Narrabri Website Servicing the Community Since 2008

Visit Narrabri NSW - it is set in the heart of the rich Namoi Valley, in North West NSW, Australia. Narrabri NSW is home to 7,300 residents who enjoy good shopping, good sporting facilities and a very good way of life. Narrabri is situated 100 kms from Moree in the north and 110kms from Coonabarabran in the south on the Newell Highway. Gunnedah is 95kms to the east and Wee Waa is 45kms west on the Kamilaroi Highway. It is the home of the Narrabri Shire Council, The Crossing Theatre, and the untamed beauty of Mt Kaputar National Park, Pilliga National Park and the Australia Telescope. Narrabri services the surrounding towns of Boggabri, Bellata, Wee Waa, Pilliga and Gwabegar.

Narrabri has daily Country Link Rail, air services and interstate coaches. The district has an average summer minimum temperature of 17° and a maximum of around 37°. Recorded average winter minimum and maximum temperatures are 3° and 17° respectively. The district can also expect a rainfall level of approximately 635 millimetres in one calendar year. It is 190 m above sea level.

Narrabri tourism includes an amazing amount of interesting places to visit, a wide selection of eating experiences. Some menus include fine local produce such as olives, wine and superlative pasta which is made from the high quality durum wheat grown in the Bellata area. Accommodation is plentiful and of excellent standard. It includes motels, caravan parks, B & Bs and farm stays, either self catering or fully pampered!

Photos in this website are supplied by Margo Palmer, John Burgess, Rohan Boehm and the Narrabri Information Centre

ABOUT NARRABRI NSW

Narrabri NSW is the headquarters for two major agricultural research stations, the Australian Cotton Research Institute and the IA Watson Grains Research Centre. Narrabri's growth and development is strongly tied to the success of its agricultural and commercial industries, and is moving ahead towards a prosperous future with the current population being approximately 7,500.

Area Devlopment

On a regional scale Narrabri NSW is encompassed by Regional Development Australia - Northern Inland NSW. This entity undertakes the promotion of the region

Local News

Cessnock MP and shadow minister for water Clayton Barr was in Moree last week as part of a trip across the region to gain a better understanding of the water situation.

Starting at Dubbo, then moving on to Bourke, Brewarrina, Walgett, Moree on Friday and then Narrabri, Mr Barr wanted to get on the ground and talk to affected people and groups.

"I've only been the shadow minister for water for about six weeks now and I've been trying to read through a whole bunch of reports but for me, the best way to learn was to come and talk to people and see things and be shown how it's working and how it's failing and things like that," Mr Barr said.

He met with the Gwydir Valley Irrigators on Friday as well as local farmer and irrigator to hear their experiences with the low water.

"It's part drought, it's part water sharing, and it's a significant part around priorities of what's most important and what needs to come first, second and third and getting that balance right," he said.

Mr Barr said the reports he has read are mostly facts and figures but they don't detail the social impact on communities, with people being forced to leave town because of the lack of water and therefore lack of work.

"For example, at Walgett they were concerned about losing all of their tradesmen....because the rest of the community didn't have much work so there wasn't much money around," he said.

"So people weren't spending money or doing renovations or building new buildings and improvements, so the tradies didn't have any work but they needed to feed their families.

"They've had to move, and often it's younger families, which then drags kids out of schools so then your school numbers drop.

"That's something that hasn't been captured in any of the reports about water but it's a really important social consequence of the absence of water.

"Hearing stories like that has been fantastic in framing my understanding of how the absence of water has impacted the communities."

While Mr Barr has visited Moree and other towns across the region, it's his first visit in his new role as shadow minister for water, and he said it has been a fantastic experience.

He wants to make it clear that he nor anyone in parliament is anti-irrigation, but it's about coming up with a good strategy in regards to the distribution of water.

"While we can't do anything about rain falling out of the sky and drought conditions we can do something about the rules about what happens to the water once it lands," Mr Barr said.

"I think that's where the really important focus needs to be right now because we don't know when it's going to rain but when it does rain we have to make sure the water goes where it needs to go."

He said most of the reports he's read heavily criticise the government while also making recommendations from scientists, commissioners and experts in the area about what the government should do.

He is yet to see anything that proves those recommendations aren't the right way to go.

"They will cause a bit of pain and grief for some people in terms of their business model and farming models but the benefits to society, environments and in other ways will be significant," Mr Barr said.

ABC News

The trawler started its life well away from the waters of the Pacific.

When Mr Miller first learnt about the boat, it was virtually a skeleton under construction in the cotton fields of Wee Waa in western NSW, where water is better known for irrigating cotton fields.

"I brought it in from Wee Waa and have been working on it ever since for the past 14 months. Nothing has been really changed in specifications," he said.

With the commercial fisher no longer on the tools, getting hold of others to carry out the physical side of the work does present problems.

"It is very, very hard indeed. There are a few people around [but] despite [their] experience with larger ships, they have not had the experience of working on a smaller vessel like this," Mr Miller said.

That experience, or lack of, has him working with 75-year-old John Wait, who has been a commercial fisher and these days also helps train potential fishers on behalf of the NSW Fishing Industry Training Council.

"I told Ross that he was crazy to do this. And I was silly enough to be with him and help him," Mr Wait said.

"I love building boats. It is one of those things that gets into your blood and you can't get rid of it. As Toad from Wind in the Willows said, there is nothing like mucking around with boats."

It is not surprising from Mr Wait's view that a person his age is providing the labour.

The Berejiklian government has already given the green light for a separate, $250 million LNG import terminal at Port Kembla, backed by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest.

The plans for the two import terminals are racing ahead as Santos's $3 billion Narrabri coal seam gas project, which could supply up to half NSW's gas requirements, remains locked in the state government's approvals process.

But Mr Stokes said the Narrabri project has "big potential impacts" on the environment, and that in any case the state is "best served by a competitive market with multiple sources".